More than half of U.S. residents want the government to regulate internet video in some way, according to a poll of more than 9,500 U.S. adults released Wednesday.

Digital Arts reports that 29 percent of those surveyed by a Washington, D.C. public relations firm said internet video should be regulated just like television content, and another 24 percent said the U.S. government should institute an online rating system similar to the one used by the movie industry.

"I was really shocked that people look at the internet the same way they look at TV," Tom Galvin, a partner at the PR firm, told DA. "People see [online video] as spiraling out of control, and they want government to do something about it."

He called that attitude a "bit scary."

The results reveal a generational divide: Only 33 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds supported government regulations of video content, while 72 percent of those over 70 years of age did.